VB arrests one in EWS housing grant scam

A total of 132 accused have been nominated in this case which was registered about seven years ago. As many as 119 accused have already been arrested to date, while 11 accused have died. The search for the two remaining accused is in progress, VB said.

The Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB) on Thursday arrested one more accused namely Gurdev Singh, a resident of village Khangah in Kapurthala district for misappropriating a grant of ₹45,000 in collusion with others out of a total central grant of ₹4.95 lakh received by the gram panchayat in the year 2011-2012. These funds were sanctioned to the panchayat for the construction of pakka houses for the poor and homeless under the Indira Awas Yojana. The accused has been absconding for the last seven years.

A total of 132 accused have been nominated in this case which was registered about seven years ago. As many as 119 accused have already been arrested to date, while 11 accused have died. The search for the two remaining accused is in progress, VB said.

A total of 132 accused have been nominated in this case which was registered about seven years ago. As many as 119 accused have already been arrested to date, while 11 accused have died. The search for the two remaining accused is in progress, VB said.

A VB spokesperson said out of the total central grant of ₹4.95 lakh received by panchayat Khangah in the year 2011-2012 for the below poverty line (BPL) families, the then ADC development-cum-chief executive officer, zila parishad, Kapurthala, Satish Chander Vashisht, in connivance with Asa Singh, sarpanch of village Mehmedwal and Kulwant Singh, then panchayat secretary, had embezzled the grants by issuing cheques in the name of ineligible beneficiaries.

“On the recommendation of Kapurthala deputy commissioner, a five-member committee, comprising various officials, conducted a physical verification regarding the utilisation of said grants, during which it was found that illegal payments to the tune of ₹1,80,00,000 were made to 411 ineligible beneficiaries belonging to 31 villages in Kapurthala district during the year 2011-12,” the VB spokesperson added.

VB registered a case on February 3, 2017, against 132 accused persons under sections 409, 420, 467, 468, 471, 120-B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and section 13(1), 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act at vigilance bureau police station Jalandhar range.

The spokesperson informed that accused Gurdev Singh being an ineligible beneficiary had usurped the central grant of ₹45,000 in connivance with Kulwinder Kaur, sarpanch of Khangah village and Kulwant Singh, panchayat secretary, through two cheques amounting to ₹25,000 each on March 7 and 12, 2012.